4-2-3-1 pivot.

I assume many people use 4-2-3-1 and I've experimenting with my midfield pivot, the "two" in the formation if you like, to find their best roles.

For two seasons at Liverpool (from 2012-2014, after Aquilani returned from loan), I stuck fairly religiously to a 4-3-3/4-1-2-2-1 with Lucas as an anchorman, Henderson as a shuttler (found he and the team played best when he was simply centre midfielder - support) and Aquilani as an advanced playmaker. However, after securing the coup of Mario Gotze on a free and moving on Aquilani, I think 4-2-3-1 is my best bet now. While I realise that I could continue to play Lucas as an anchorman behind Henderson as I did to some success in my first season when I played a lopsided, asymmetrical 4-2-3-1, I'm eager to investigate having them on the same "line". Firstly, I tried the following:



The idea was that Henderson would play his usual role, but instead of Lucas sitting in front of the back four, he would press higher up the pitch and win the ball back in advanced positions, making the team far more proactive. Obviously, the counter argument to this is that you leave yourself wide open to counter attacks should the opposition play around your pressing (highly probably with the current match engine) and I used it in a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Everton in the third game of the season. It was also for this reason that I didn't use it at the Emirates on the opening day - though Arsenal still beat us 2-0, not a great start to the season at all. Since these results, Lucas has picked up a two game ban for getting sent off in a 2-1 win at Swansea and Henderson is out for three months having picked up a calf injury in a 3-1 win against Southampton so I've been left with Jonjo Shelvey and Juan Pedro Toledo, obviously inferior replacements. For a home game with Wigan, I decided to experiment with a true double pivot like that of Germany, who have Khedira and Schweinsteiger basically taking it in turns to break forward and overload the opposition defence while the other sits deeper. With this in mind, I gave Shelvey the basic role of centre midfielder - attack and Toledo centre midfielder - defend but had them swap positions as you can see in an attempt to recreate with Khedira and Schweingsteiger do. The result?



Great, a thumping win. But the match stats that I've highlighted suggest otherwise. Both players played well, but the team still coughed up three clear cut chances to a midtable Wigan side and the midfielders' pass completion ratio was rather poor (though that probably includes my attacking trio of Gotze, Gerrard and Isco who try much more incisive passes). In fact, Toledo only played 13/15 passes (86.7%) while Shelvey completed 27/32 (84.4%) though I don't obsess with possession like some on this forum. Still, this was with my two backup players so I wouldn't necessarily rush to damn the system without more trial and error. Judging by their average positions, Shelvey got forward more, which is to be expected and wanted.

So yeah, just wondering if anyone has ever looked into this in an in-depth manner and got a decent system going?

Interesting read.

I prefer to have a lone holding defensive midfielder in front of the defence, either as an anchor man or a defensive mid.

That doesn't seem like a lot of passes completed for the pivot. The 4231 is a controlling formation and you'll see Schweini and Khedira complete 50-60 each minimum in a game for Germany.

Unfortunately I can't help with player roles. I rip the instructions apart for each player individually so what they're labelled as is completely irrelevant.

I play a 4-2-3-1 (wide) with Ajax, and it works fantastically for me.

My 2 in the middle are usually a CM (Defensive) and AP (Attacking), and I believe I have players who fit these roles very well.

So far, in some 15 competitive matches this season (2020-2021) I have scored like 45 and conceded only once.

Best of luck!